June Program Descriptions

Founded in 1791, the MHS is an invaluable resource for American history, life, and culture. Our extraordinary collections tell the story of America through millions of rare and unique documents, artifacts, and irreplaceable national treasures. All programs are virtual unless otherwise noted.

JUNE 1 TUESDAY | 5:00 | VIRTUAL CONVERSATION

From the River to the Sea: The Untold Story of the Railroad that Made the West John Sedgwick in conversation with John Larson, Purdue University

In 1869, the first transcontinental railroad had made history by linking East and West. Relying heavily on federal grants, it left an opening for two brash new railroad men, the Civil War hero behind the Rio Grande and the corporate chieftain of the Santa Fe, to build the first transcontinental to make money, bringing to life such out-of-the-way places as San Diego, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Denver, and Los Angeles. Remarkably, it transformed Boston, too. An early railroad hub, Boston was a major financial hub for Western expansion. Backers of that first transcontinental, the Union Pacific, Bostonians also back the Santa Fe in its quest to be the second. Its corporate headquarters were on Boston’s Dvonshire Street, and its board drawn from the city’s moneyed elite, providing a local angle to this epic story of the greatest railroad war of all time.

To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.

JUNE 3 THURSDAY | 5:30 | VIRTUAL PANEL

In Print: Boston’s LGBT Publications during the Gay Rights & Gay Liberation Era Dallas Denny and Amy Hoffman

Moderator: Russ Lopez, The History Project

This program is co-sponsored by The History Project.

This panel will look at the grassroots LGBT periodicals that originated in Boston during the modern gay liberation era and evolved to become critical resources for LGBT communities all over the country. How did these magazines, journals, and newsletters influence and inform self-identity, politics, and activism nation-wide? What kind of ideological debates played out in the pages of these publications? We will try to understand why Boston was a particularly good incubator for this particular type of activist media, while also examining how these periodicals worked to amplify the unique concerns and demands of LGBT communities nationally.

JUNE 9 WEDNESDAY | 6:00 | VIRTUAL PANEL

Confronting Racial Injustice series, The Charles Stuart Story: White Lies & Black Lives Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Boston University School of Law; Hon. Leslie Harris (ret.), Suffolk Juvenile Court; and Renée Graham, The Boston Globe

Moderator: Kim McLaurin, Suffolk University Law School

Charles Stuart, a white man, murdered his wife and unborn child in Boston in 1989 and falsely blamed the attack on a nonexistent Black man. Believing Stuart’s lie, the police engaged in a massive manhunt that terrorized a Black community in Mission Hill with detention, public strip-searches, and the arrest of two innocent men. As some lawmakers demanded the death penalty, the media perpetuated this false story. The Stuart case exemplifies how the narrative of white supremacy continues to lead to the dehumanization and devaluation of Black lives. Widespread acceptance of white lies over Black lives persists today.

Developed by the Northeastern University School of Law Criminal Justice Task Force, Confronting Racial Injustice is a free, five-part series hosted by the MHS and sponsored by a number of Boston-area organizations.

To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.

JUNE 14 MONDAY | 5:30 | VIRTUAL CONVERSATION

The Education Trap: Schools & the Remaking of Inequality in Boston Christina Groeger, Lake Forest College in conversation with Michael Glass, Boston College

For generations, Americans have looked to education as the solution to economic disadvantage. Yet, although more people are earning degrees, the gap between rich and poor is widening. The Education Trap delves into the history of this seeming contradiction, using the city of Boston as a test case. Even as Boston spent heavily on public schools the first decades of the twentieth century, the shift to more educated labor had negative consequences—both intended and unintended—for many workers. Employers supported training in schools in order to undermine the influence of craft unions, shifting workplace power toward management. Advanced educational credentials became a means of controlling access to high-paying professional and business jobs, concentrating power and wealth. Formal education thus became a central force in maintaining inequality.

To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.

The Virginia Dynasty: Four Presidents & the Creation of the American Nation Lynne Cheney in conversation with Catherine Allgor, MHS

From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation’s first five presidents—a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation, and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. But even as Virginians advanced Enlightenment values like liberty, equality, and human possibility, they held people in slavery and were slaveholders when they died. Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men of the Virginia Dynasty, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.

To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.

JUNE 30 WEDNESDAY | 5:30 | VIRTUAL CONVERSATION

Mercury Rising: John Glen, John Kennedy & the New Battleground of the Cold War Jeff Shesol in conversation with E. J. Dionne

If the United States couldn’t catch up to the Soviets in space, how could it compete with them on Earth? That was the question facing John F. Kennedy at the height of the Cold War. On February 20, 1962, when John Glenn blasted into orbit aboard Friendship 7, his mission was not only to circle the planet; it was to calm the fears of the free world and renew America’s sense of self-belief. Mercury Rising re-creates the tension and excitement of a flight that shifted the momentum of the space race and put the United States on the path to the moon. Drawing on new archival sources, personal interviews, and previously unpublished notes by Glenn himself, Mercury Rising reveals how the astronaut’s heroics lifted the nation’s hopes.

To reserve: This is an online program. Please register at www.masshist.org/events.

JUNE 15 TUESDAY | 5:30 | VIRTUAL CONVERSATION